


it's giant hunk of metal in the sky, o

by lecornergirl



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, airplane au, bellamy is a nervous flier, clarke is a flight attendant, like really ridiculously nervous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-02 01:52:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4041124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lecornergirl/pseuds/lecornergirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’s not usually this terrible at life, but in just over an hour he’s going to be on an airplane, a giant hunk of metal in the sky, and it’s sort of messing with his thought process.</p><p>or: the one where Bellamy is a nervous flyer and Clarke is the most beautiful flight attendant he's ever seen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's giant hunk of metal in the sky, o

**Author's Note:**

> i was originally going to make this a long oneshot but i ran out of steam a bit so multi-chapter it is
> 
> also i haven't been through an airport in the US in like ten years so i may be fuzzy on the details shh

“Oh god, oh god, oh god, why am I doing this?” Bellamy mutters from the passenger seat of Octavia’s old Volkswagen. “This is a terrible idea. The terriblest. The worst idea I’ve had in a long time.”

“It’ll be fine,” Octavia says soothingly, one hand reaching for her parking ticket and the other rubbing circles into Bellamy’s back. “It’s only an airplane.”

“Only an airplane? O, it’s a giant hunk of metal. With people in it. In the sky. Giant hunks of metal with people in them aren’t meant to be in the sky.”

“Cars are basically just giant hunks of metal too,” his sister reassures him as she pulls into a parking space. “You’re fine with cars, right?”

“Yes, O, but cars don’t _fly_ ,” he groans, as if it should be painfully obvious to her.

“It’ll be fine,” she says again. She’s lost count of how many times she’s had to say it that morning.

“What time is it?” Bellamy asks, switching tracks but still just as panicked. “Am I going to be late? Is everyone going to hate me?”

“You have plenty of time,” Octavia says. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. Now come on, you’ve got to get out of the car at some point.”

Still muttering under his breath, Bellamy slowly unbuckles his seatbelt and steps out of the car.

“Okay,” Octavia says, “You’ve made it to the airport. You are officially at the airport. That’s a good sign.” She goes around to the back of the car to grab his suitcase, but years of looking out for Octavia have Bellamy at the trunk before she can get there.

“I’m pathetic enough as it is, O, I think I’ll carry my own suitcase,” he says with a forced laugh. She laughs, too, but he does look slightly pale and she is slightly worried.

“All right, let’s get you checked in,” she says brightly. “Got your passport? Suitcase? Backpack? Excellent.”

They set off for the terminal, and Bellamy tells himself he’s fine. Really. Completely fine.

Then they get inside, and there are about a million check in desks and they all have different lines and _oh god, what is he doing._

“Come on,” Octavia says in her no-nonsense teacher voice. “Okay, flight to Rome... there we go, it’s this desk right here.”

“What do I do? What do I say? What if –”

“You big baby,” Octavia sighs, grabbing his suitcase. They join the line for his flight, Bellamy fidgets nervously, and Octavia sighs again.

“Bell, I swear to god, you need to stop that. You’ll be fine. It will be fine.”

“But –”

“But nothing. You’ll be fine, and then you’ll be in Rome. Remember? The whole reason you’re doing this? Going to see your nerdy historical things? Just focus on that.”

Bellamy’s eyes unfocus, and Octavia knows he’s imagining the nerd heaven he’ll be in when he finally gets to see in person all the things he’s read about since she was born. But now isn’t the time for that, so she snaps her fingers in front of his face. “Hey. Focus. You’re almost up.”

When they get to the front of the line, Octavia takes the suitcase in one hand and shoves Bellamy forward with the other. “Hi, this loser needs to check in,” she says, smiling widely.

The tired-looking woman at the counter doesn’t bat an eyelid. “Okay, I need the loser’s passport, please.”

Octavia pokes Bellamy in the side and he hands it over.

“Okay, and are you checking in any bags today?”

“Um, just the one,” Bellamy says.

“And did you pack it yourself?”

“Um –” he starts, but Octavia cuts him off.

“Yes, he did. I’m so sorry about him, it’s his first time flying, you know how it is with nervous flyers…”

“Right, if you could just put the bag on the belt for me, please,” the woman says. Her tone of voice hasn’t changed at all throughout the entire interaction.

He watches as she tags the bag and sends it on its way down the conveyor belt. He gulps. There’s no turning back now.

Octavia pokes him again, intending to reassure him, but she doesn’t think it helps.

“Okay, and here’s your boarding pass, sir. Thank you for choosing to fly with us today, and I hope you have a pleasant flight.”

“Not likely,” Bellamy mutters, but Octavia is already steering him towards the line for security.

“Okay, Bellamy, I can’t go through security with you. Remember what I told you?”

“Laptop out, liquids out, boarding pass at the ready, don’t antagonize the TSA agents,” Bellamy lists. _Oh god oh god oh god_ , he thinks.

“Excellent,” Octavia says. “And when you’re through security?”

“Find my gate, sit down, wait patiently.”

“See?” she says. “You’ll be fine.”

Bellamy shoots her a grateful smile. “Okay. Okay. I can do this.”

“Fucking right you can,” she grins.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye, then?”

“Fuck off, Bell, you’re coming back in like two weeks. Now just go, okay?”

“Aye aye, captain,” he says and salutes her.

“Fuck off, Bell,” she says again, but she can’t help but smile as Bellamy gives her a quick hug and walks determinedly to join the line for security.

 

 _Oh god,_ he thinks again as he waits for security, but he’s getting a handle on the panic now. This bit he can handle. This part is easy – and more importantly, it’s still on the ground. Everything’s fine, for now. He gets through just fine, and he even tries to smile at the TSA agent, but it might come out as more of a grimace. He’s not quite sure.

But then he gets to the departure gates area, and oh god, it’s huge. He thought there were a million and one check-in desks, but this is worse than that.

He’s not usually this terrible at life, but in just over an hour he’s going to be on an airplane, a _giant hunk of metal in the sky,_ and it’s sort of messing with his thought process.

He hears Octavia’s voice in his mind. _For fuck’s sake, Bell, it’s not going to be hard. You find a departures board, find your gate, and just sit and wait. You’ll be okay._

Thankfully, the departures board is easy to locate, and his gate is close by. He doesn’t think he could handle the stress of having to search for them, because what if it makes him late for his flight? Not that he’s entirely convinced that accidentally missing the _giant hunk of metal in the sky_ was a bad thing.

By the time his flight begins boarding, he’s relaxed enough to go buy a bottle of water and a sandwich from a café near his gate. He’s texted Octavia to tell him about his achievement _. proud of u_ , she texts back.

Then he’s actually getting on the plane, and _holy shit, this thing is going to fly?_ But he smiles at the flight attendants like Octavia told him to and finds his seat, trying not to think about the fact that he’s now _in_ the _giant hunk of metal_ that’s going to _fly_.

He sits down, awkwardly folding his legs into the tiny space. At least he has an aisle seat, so when people stop moving past him in a continuous stream he can probably get away with stretching his legs a little. He puts his headphones in, thinking some music will calm him, but all too soon the engine starts. Even though they’re on the ground, still, he feels the panic begin to creep back. Then a hand lands on his shoulder.

 _Oh god, oh god, oh god_ , he thinks, his mind running through everything that could have gone wrong before they’ve even lifted off.

He turns around to see a flight attendant who’s possibly the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, and somewhere in the back of his mind he registers that the panic he’s feeling is probably very visible on his face right now.

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to remove your headphones for the security demonstration,” she says, and he feels himself relax. Nothing’s gone wrong. It’s okay.

“Sure thing, Princess,” he says, and cringes a little, because _princess_? Really? He thought he was better than that. He blames the plane.


End file.
